No-Nasty Bread Improver · The Story
I spent years telling people they didn't need a bread improver. Here's what changed my mind, and how to read a label so you can judge one for yourself.
What is actually in a bread improver? It depends entirely on which one you pick, which is why the ingredient list on the back of the pack is the only thing worth judging it on. No-Nasty Bread Improver is three real ingredients, diastatic malted wheat flour, sunflower lecithin and roasted malted barley flour, and that is the whole list.
For years I said you didn't need one
I baked yeast breads for years before I ever went near a starter, then I got into sourdough properly and it completely levelled up my bread. I'm so proud of the loaves that come out of my kitchen, and even prouder of the ones you send me photos of. They really are brilliant.
So for a long time I told my audience two things about bread improvers: you don't need one, and why would you want to add that stuff anyway. That held true for every single improver I could find in Australia, and I'll keep saying the first half of it. None of us need a bread improver to bake great sourdough.
The one thing I could never fix
But there was one thing I could never fix: my loaves went hard far faster than a shop-bought loaf did. That annoyed me.
I wanted my bread to have that soft staying power, minus the nasty ingredients a shop-bought loaf relies on to get it. That is a very specific gap, and fermentation on its own can't close it.
Then I read the labels
So I started looking into bread improvers, and I got genuinely excited when I found there were natural ones out there. Then I read the labels. Not a chance. What's the point of baking from scratch if you add the same rubbish back in?
That is the bit that still frustrates me. It's a category full of products that say natural and don't mean it. Most bread improver labels read like a chemistry project. Mine reads like a pantry shelf.
So I made the only one I'd ever use. The honest version of natural.
Three real ingredients, and nothing else
There wasn't a good option, so I started testing ingredients I was genuinely happy to use in my own kitchen. What I ended up with is three real ingredients: diastatic malted wheat flour, sunflower lecithin and roasted malted barley. It's hand-made in small batches in Melbourne by me and my mum, in the same commercial kitchen where our flavour blends are made.
What you get is a better rise, a deeper golden crust, a softer crumb, and a loaf that's still lovely on day three instead of turning into a doorstop. It works in sourdough and in any yeast bread, so sandwich loaves, rolls, focaccia and pizza dough are all fair game. Since my family started using it, it's lifted our bread in a way I honestly didn't think was possible at home without a much longer ingredient list.
I'm the home cook who said she'd never use a bread improver. This is the one that changed my mind. It is very fun to take a loaf you're already proud of and push it a bit further. It isn't a raising agent and it doesn't replace your starter or your yeast.
One honest note on kit, because people always ask: it goes in with the flour, so it works with whatever you already use to make your dough, whether that is your hands, a stand mixer, a bread maker or a Thermomix machine.
Meet the product
No-Nasty Bread Improver
No-Nasty Bread Improver
Three real ingredients for a better rise, a deeper golden crust and a loaf that's still lovely on day three. Hand-made in small batches, vegan, 50 g.
Shop now →How to read a bread improver label
You do not have to take my word for any of this. Whatever you end up buying, mine or anyone else's, here is the test I use.
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Turn the packet over
The front of the pack is marketing. The ingredient list on the back is the only part that has to tell you the truth, so read that first and let it decide for you.
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Count the ingredients
A short list is easy to understand. A long one is worth asking questions about. No-Nasty Bread Improver has three ingredients, and that was the whole point of making it.
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Look for what is missing
The things I chose to leave out matter as much as the three I put in: no soy flour, no synthetic additives, no preservatives, no fillers, no anti-caking agents, and never any added MSG, artificial colours or artificial flavours.
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Ask what each one is doing
Every ingredient should earn its place. In mine, diastatic malted wheat flour brings the extra fermentable sugars behind a darker, caramel-malty crust, sunflower lecithin does the one job fermentation cannot do at all by keeping the crumb soft, and roasted malted barley flour adds direct colour and toasty notes.
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Check the allergens
Read this bit properly every time. No-Nasty Bread Improver contains wheat and barley, so it contains gluten and is not suitable for a gluten free diet. It may also contain sesame, soy, tree nuts and dairy. It is vegan.
Worth saying plainly, because it matters: No-Nasty Bread Improver contains wheat and barley, so it contains gluten and is not suitable for a gluten free diet. It is made for ordinary wheat-flour sourdough and yeast breads, not for gluten free baking. Full ingredients and allergen details are on the product page.
Where the actual method lives
I've kept the how-to off this page on purpose, because it already has a home. Everything practical, how much to use, when to add it, which breads it works in and why it lives in the fridge, is on one page in the guide to using No-Nasty Bread Improver. Bookmark that one, it is the page you will want open with flour on your hands.
The easiest way to see what it does is to put it in a loaf you've already made. Ellen's Beginner White Sourdough Loaf is where I'd start, and we've added the improver into that recipe so you can see exactly where it slots in and how much to use. Bake it the way you always have, then bake it again with a teaspoon of improver through the flour. The difference shows up in the crust straight away, and again on day three.
Want more from your home baking?
A deeper golden crust and a loaf that's still lovely on day three, from three real ingredients and one teaspoon. We're planning on it becoming a permanent part of the range, but this first batch is small and I can't promise how quickly we'll have it back once it sells through.
